Title

Creator

[John Muir]

Recipient

[Jeanne C. Carr]

Preview

Transcription

[6]is about ten miles & the scenery all the way is not a whit less glorious then that of Yosemite - Indeed this Tenaya Can- on is a fork of Yosemite wh shallows gradually untill within a mile & a half of Lake Tenaya. For about a mile above Mirror Lake the Canon bottom is flat & level & is grandly forested with fir & Douglas Spruce & Libocedrus, this forest is growing upon the [illegible] in portion of the Mirror Lake basin. At the head of these [deleted: forest] Mirror Lake groves is the Tenaya falls wh is about 80 feet high. for about 30 yds above the brink of the fall the stream [deleted: flows] rushes in rapids down a [deleted: cold] flat open [illegible] pavement of granite inclined at an angle of 18° this sheet of rapids wh in high water is 75 feet wide is [deleted: splendidly] varied by three parallel [deleted: gutters] grooves running [deleted: in the direction of] parallel with the stream They have been formed by the action of the water on [deleted: soft seams] cleavage [points?]. & as these [deleted: gutters] grooves are variable in width & slightly sinuous & [deleted: possessed of] rounded boulders are wedged firmly in Narrow places, they compel the swift water to leap & arch & Scatter itself in crystals in most [7]unanticipatable methods, thus the whole stream [deleted: stream] in descending this incline is beaten into foam & broidered with endless variety of living forms before it reaches the brink, when it leaps down so feet into a [deleted: sort of] cross gorge & flows out at bottom at right angles to its general course somewhat like the Victoria Falls on the [Zambesi?] The glory of this fall is the abundance of luxuriant groviness about it & mingling with [it?] Its white waters issue from a tangle of evergreen trees & shrubs & ferns & mosses & flow through a tungle into a tangle Ferns, tall [woodwardias?] & gentle floating [Mardenhairs?] & emerald mosses In sheltered coves ever [illegible] with mealy spray are pre[illegible] fluxuriant fringes of Mardenhairs & thickets of the tall woodwardia.

Location

Yosemite Valley

Date Original

1872 Dec 25

Source

Original letter dimensions: 21 x 26 cm.

Resource Identifier

muir02_1037-let.tif

File Identifier

Reel 02, Image 1037

Copyright Status

Copyrighted

Copyright Statement

The unpublished works of John Muir are copyrighted by the Muir-Hanna Trust. To purchase copies of images and/or obtain permission to publish or exhibit them, see http://www.pacific.edu/Library/Find/Holt-Atherton-Special-Collections/Fees-and-Forms-.html

Owning Institution

University of the Pacific Library Holt-Atherton Special Collections. Please contact this institution directly to obtain copies of the images or permission to publish or use them beyond educational purposes.